Instrument panel



Patented Nov. 26, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This inventionrelates to instrument panels particularly of the type adaptable for usein connection with automobiles, the principal object being the provisionof an instrument panel which when illuminated at night will discloseonly the indicia of the various instruments contained therein togetherwith the pointers for such instruments, the remainder of the face of theinstrument panel remaining blank under illumination and the illuminationof the indicia and pointers themselves being of a soft and nonglaringcharacter.

Objects of the invention include the provision of an instrument panel inwhich a transparent face plate is provided for supporting the dialindicia of the various instruments cooperating therewith, and in whichthe indicia are illumin'ated without otherwise illuminating therfaceplate; the provision of an instrument panel having a glass face uponwhich the indicia for the cooperating instruments are adhered, togetherwith means for projecting light through an edge of the glass whereby theindicia only will be illuminated and the remainder of the glass willappear blank and black in darkness; the provision of an instrumentpanelincluding, a glass face on the rear surface of which the indiciafor one or more instruments are adhered, together with a suitabledecorative backing member for the glass face so associated therewith asto prevent its illumination by light projected through an edge of theglass face; the provision of an instruments panel of the type describedin which the indicia for an instrument are adhered to the rear surfaceof the glass face and an i opaque decorative backing member is providedfor the glass face, the backing member be-' ing provided with openingstherein and the instrument being provided with a plate movable therebyand overlying the opening to prevent the projection of lighttherethrough, the plate being provided with a transparent or translucentpointer adapted to be illuminated by the presence of light in back of itwhereby the relative position of the pointer with respect to the indiciamaybe observed; the provision of a construction as above described withthe exception that instead of having a plate movable with the instrumentand the plate having a transparent pointer associated therewith forillumination from the rear, the instrument is provided with a pointeronly, without a plate, adapted for illumination from a directioncorresponding with the plane of the plate; and the provision of aninstrument panel including a glass face, the rear surface of which isprovided'with suitable indicia adhered thereto, a suitable ornamentalbacking plate of opaque'materialhaving openings therein through whichthe pointers of the instruments may be observed, and a housing for theinstruments together with means for illuminating the indicia byprojecting light into .;he glass face from an edge thereof, and illuminaing the pointers of the instruments from the rear of the backing plate.5

The above being among the objects of the I present invention, the sameconsists in certain Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view mtaken on the line 2- i of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a viewsimilar. to Fig, 2, but illustrating a slightly modifiedform of construction in which a different form of pointer arrange-- mentand illumination therefor is provided.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, partially broken, face viewof one of theinstruments and its ,cooperating pointer, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig.3'.

Fig. 5 is an enlargedfragmentary sectional view taken on the line 55 ofFig. 4. to I It is commonly recognized by the motoring public that whendriving an automobile at night anyv illmnination within the body of theautomobile apparent to the driver detracts from the vision of the driverand accordingly is not only 85 not desirable but may actually bedangerous. It is equally well recognized that it is desirable that thedriver be able to inspect from time to time the various instruments withwhich the automobile is equipped to ascertain not only the speed 40 atwhich the automobile is travelling but that various parts thereof arecontinuing to operate in a normal manner, and that the supply of fueland oil is suilicient for the particular requirements at the moment. Theproblem of illumination of instrument panels has always been importantin that such instrument panels are usually the chief source. ofillumination within an automobile during normal driving conditions atnight, and the problem of illuminating the instrument panel suillcientlyto enable the driver to readily inspect the various instrumentscontained within the panel and yet prevent any glare that detracts fromthe drivers vision has'been u diilicult of achievement. The presentinvention provides a construction by means of which the variousinstruments included in the panel may be quickly and clearly read by theoperator and yet the illumination of the instruments from the .0

' walIsofthechamber drivers standpoint will be such that his vision willbe unimpaired thereby.

Referring to the drawing, an instrument panel is indicated generally atIn, it being shown for the purpose of illust'ratiohonly as being ofrectangular shape. It will be understood that in accordance withconventional practice such instrument panels are mounted in an openingin an instrument board such as l2, a fragment of which is indicated inFig. l, with its front face arranged in approximately flush relationwith respect to the front face of the instrument board, the instrumentpanel being relatively closely received in the opening in the instrumentboard and being provided with lugs such as H overlying the concealedface of the instrument. board and through which screws (not shown) areprojected for the purpose of securing the instrument panel and boardtogether in assembled relationship.

The instrument panel itself comprises a glass face plate or pane l6,preferably of appreciable thickness on the order of plate glass.Positioned against the rear face of the plate l8, as viewed from theface of the instrument panel, is a backing plate l8. This backing platemay be perfectly flat if desired and lie directly against the face platel6, except possibly having the margins thereof around the openings forthe instruments to be later referred to flanged inwardly where.

desired, but for the purpose of illustration only in order to bring outcertain features of the invention it is shown in the drawing as beingslightly inwardly offset from the back face of the face plate 16 exceptaround its periphery, so that the main body portion thereof isrearwardly spaced from the rear face of the face plate IS. A channelshaped frame member 28 extends around the top and sides of the faceplate l6 and also embraces the corresponding margins of the backingplate l8 therein for the purpose of securing it in assembled relationwith respect to the plate It. A housing indicated generally at 22 isprovided on the rear face of the face plate l8, its forward face overthe length corresponding to the frame 28 being outwardly flanged as at24 and being suitably secured to the rear face of the frame 20 as byscrews 28. The lower edge of the housing 22 is projected downwardly atan angle'beyond the lower edge of the face plate 18 and is formed into apartially cylindrical portion 28, the axis of which portion isvertically aligned with the center of the plate IS. -The margin of theportion 28 is brought upwardly as at 30 into contact with the forwardlower margin of the face plate l6 so as to effect a continuation of theframe 20 over such margin. Where the flange 30 joins the portion 28 themetal may be pressed slightly inwardly as at 32 so as to provide a lipor shoulder against which l8 may abut to limit its downward movement.

The lower edge of the backing plate I8 is curved as at 34 to somewhatcomplete the cylindrical formation of the portion 28 of the housing 22and its lower margin is brought down into contacting relationship withrespect to the lower wall of the housing 22 and is secured thereto bymeans of screws 38. It will thus be apparent that a cylindrical chamber38 is formed by the portion 28 of the housing 22 and portion 34 of thebacking plate l8 below and centrally of the glass plate l8. Within thischamber 38' one or more electric lamps 48,preferably of theelongated-type shown, are positioned, the sockets of the lanipsfl'beingremovably secured in the end 38 and the sockets 42 prefthe lower edge ofthe face plate lamps 48 may be projected into an edge of the face platel8 and in the direction of the plane thereof. Additionally, the curvedportion 34 of the back plate i8 is provided with a series of openings 44therein which permits light from the lamps 48 to be projected rearwardlyand striking the angular lower wall 48 of the housing 22 be reflectedupwardly so as to flood the interior of the casing 22 with light. It maybe noted that the housing 22 is preferably closed so as to.prevent thelight projected thereinto as above explained from' escaping except inthe manner hereinafter specifically pointed out.

To the rear face of the housing 22 and located within the housing aplurality of instruments are secured as by means of screws 48. Theseinstrumerits may include, by way of illustration, 9.

speedometer 50, an oil gauge 52, an ammeter 54, a heat indicator 58, anda fuel gauge 58. Additionally the throttle and choke members 68 and 82respectively may be projected through the housing 22, backing plate l8and plate I6 if de- 1 dial for each of the instruments 50 to 58,inclusive, and the pointers therefor are all of a similar nature, adescriptionwill be given of the dial and pointer arrangement for thespeedometer 58 only, the construction and relation of the remainingdials and pointer constructions thereby being apparent.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the backing plate I8around the margins of the dial opening 64 for the speedometer 50 isflanged inwardly as at 14. The shaft 16 of the speedometer 58 has fixedthereto within the opening 64 and substantially in coplanar relationwith respect to the backing plate [8 a disc 18. The disc 18 is opaqueexcept for the area of the narrow central portion 19 of the arrow orpointer 88, indicated in Fig. 1, and over the area, of the portion 19 itis translucent so that light projected from the lamps 40 through theopenings 44 and flooding the interior of the casing 22 may illuminatethe portion 19 to an extent sumcient to enable the driver of the vehicleto readily discern it as a narrow pencil or line of light but withoutproducing a glare in the eyes of the driver. This effect may be obtainedin'a number of different ways but perhaps the most satisfactory mannerof accomplishing it is to make the disc 18 of translucent or transparentcelluloid or like material and cover the disc, except for the area andshape of the portion I9, with a coating 8| of paint or other suitablematerial, the coating 8| being shown in exaggerated thickness in Fig. 2for the purpose of clarity of disclosure only. In this manner thearrowlll may be of a color contrasting favorably with the color of thedisc 18 as painted and be of such dimensions as to render its positionquickly and accurately readable in daylight, while the narrow portion 19only being illuminated at night renders it clear cut and non-blurringand, therefore, enables the position of the arrow to be quickly andaccurately determined at night.

Should the arrow 80 be of relatively large size iiciently narrow widthand the portion 18 of a corresponding greater width, the portion 19 maycoincide with the entire area of the pointer 80 and such is within thespirit of the present invention.

In order'to prevent the light which floods the interior of the housing22 from becoming visibly projected through the clearance space betweenthe periphery of the disc 18 and the backing plate I 8, the periphery ofthe disc I; is preferably provided with a forwardly opening channelshape rim 82 within which the flange 14 is received. It will beunderstood, however, that both the disc 18 and the rim 82 are out ofrubbing contactwith all stationary parts of the device so as. not'tointerfere with the proper movement of the disc 18 and this, of course,applies equally well to all of the other instruments in the assemblage.

The indicia, other words the numerals, 7

names and other indicating dial marks 84 for each of the instruments inthe assemblage are adhered to the rear face of the plate IS in propergrouped relation with respect to their corresponding instruments. Whilesuch indicia may be formed separately and thereafter caused to adhere tothe rear face of the glass plate l6, it will ordinarily be found just assatisfactoryand more convenient to paint them upon such surface.

It has been found that if a glass plate such as the plate I6 isilluminated from an edge only thereof, with the proper degree ofillumination the face of the plate at night, if its surface is.uninterrupted, will appear entirely blank and unilluminated. If,however, an object is caused to adhere to a surface of the plate thensuch object over the area of adherence will be illuminated. Thus in theconstruction shown the plate l6 being illuminated from an edge and itssurface being interrupted only by the indicia 84, the indicia 84 onlywill be illuminated and visible when viewed at night, the remainingportions or areas of the plate l6 remaining blank or black, and thisregardless of the color of the exposed surface of the backingplate l8.Thus the exposed surface of the backing plate may be made of any desiredfinish regardless of color so as to be properly ornamental when viewedin daylight, and yet at night when the panel is illuminated the backingplate l8 will appear as though black. In view of the fact that lightfrom the interior of the housing 22 will be projected through thepointer portions 19 of the various instruments to illuminate themsulficiently to make them clearly visibleand yet not produce a glare,the'surface of the glass l6 when illuminated and viewed at night, asabove described, will present only the indicia of the variplate andbacking plate and forthese reasons 86 adjacent the backing plate l8members to the rear face of the face plate I8 in adjacent relationshipthereto as shown and in the same manner as the indicia 04 previouslydescribed.

As abovementioned, only objects which are adhered to or in contact withthe rear face of the 1 glass face plate l6 will be illuminated by lightprojected through an edge of the face plate l6 and only over the area ofcontact or adherence. For this reason and because of the fact that it issubstantially impossible to make both the surfaces of the face plate Itand a sheet of metal sufficiently accurate to be in complete contactwith each other even though clamped to each other over theirperipheries, the backing plate I 8 may be made flat instead of havingits marginal edge portions forwardly oifset in the manner shown merelyby way of illustration, and in such case the backing plate would merelybear at a relatively small number of spaced points against the rearfacetof the plate i6 and con- 30 sequently the effect above describedwould still obtain. Additionally the application of the indicia 84 tothe rear face of the face plate l6 would prevent any material contact ofthe face the plate l8 may be made flat and in apparent contact with therear face of the plate I 6 without detracting from the blank appearanceof the panel when illuminated at night as above described.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 a slight modification of the above describedconstruction is shown and corresponding parts are indicated bycorresponding numerals except that such numerals bear a prime mark. Inthiscase the various instruments 50' to 58, inclusive, instead of beingmounted upon the rear wall of the housing 22 are mounted directly uponthe backing plate l8 by means of straps 90 in accordance withconventional practice. Figs. 3, 4 and 5, however, are shown primarily toillustrate a difierent nating the pointers for the various instruments.In connection with some instruments, and this applies particularly toammeters which are very sensitive and which ordinarily have very littlepower to move their pointers, the disc type of pointer such as thatdescribed in connection with Figs. 1 and 2 may be found to impair thedesired sensitiveness of operation of the instrument, and in sueh caseresort may be had to the construction illustrated in Figs. ometer 50' isshown in Fig. 3 as partially broken away to illustrate the constructioncommon to all of the instruments in these figures. As indicated in Fig.3 the face 92 of the speedometer 50' is exposed through the aperture 64'in the backing plate I8, but the face 92 is set; back a materialdistance rearwardly of the rear face of the glass panel I5. In advanceof the face 92 the shaft of the speedometer 50 is provided with apointer 94 which thus moves in the spacebetween the face 92 and the rearface of the glass plate I6.

method of illumi- 3, 4 and 5. The speed- 58, inclusive, arecircumferentiailyTapertured at so that the 7 and thus render thepointers visible to the driver;

If the sides of the pointer are curved as indicated in Fig. 5 andsuitably polished the effect at night will be that each pointer will bemade visible and appear as a pair of parallel lines of light. The effectof this last mentioned construction will be similar to that firstdescribed with the exception, however, that because of the method ofillumination of the various pointers care must be exercised to preventexcessive illumination of the v pointers which will produce a glare.

Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiments of the inventiondescribed without departing from the spirit or substance of the broadinvention, the scope of which is comv to the operating of and throughmensurate with the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An instrument panel including, in combination, a glass face plate, anopaque backing face plate overlying the rear face of the face plate, aninstrument supported in the rear of the backing plate, said backingplate having an aperture therein, pointer means movable by saidinstrument and exposed through said aperture, indicia with which saidpointer means is adapted to cooperate adhered to the rear surface of theface plate, and means for projecting light into an edge of said faceplate in 7 thereof to effect illumination of said indicia and forreflecting light independently of said face plate to illuminate saidpointer means.

2. An instrument panel including, in combination, a glass face plate, anopaque backing plate for said face plate, a housing enclosing the rearface of said face plate and backing plate, a lamp bulb chamber at anedge of said face plate and opening on to said edge, a lamp bulb in saidlamp chamber positioned to project light into said edge of said faceplate, an opening'in said backing plate, an instrument within saidhousing, pointer means operable by said instrument and visible throughsaid opening, indicia for said pointer means adhered to a face of saidface plate, and said chamber being provided with an opening for theprojection of light from said bulb to the interior of said housing forthe illumination of said pointer means.

3. An instrument panel comprising, in combination, a transparent faceplate, an opaque backing plate for said face plate, said backing platehaving an opening therein, an instrument mounted in the rear of saidopening, a member secured shaft of said instrument and movable therewithclosing said opening, said member having a transparent pointer portionand the remainder being substantially opaque, indicia for cooperationwith said pointer portion adhered to the rear surface of said faceplate, and means for projecting light into an edge of said face plate inthe direction of the plane theresaid transparent pointer portion.

4. An instrument panel comprising, in combination, a transparent faceplate, an opaque backing plate for said face plate having an openingtherein, an instrument mounted in the rear of the direction of the planesaid backing plate, a pointer member actuated by said instrument andcooperating with said backing plate around the margins of said openingto prevent the direct projection of light between them, said pointermember comprising a g generally opaque member having a translucent arrowthereon, indicia adhered to a surface of said face plate in position tocooperate with said arrow to indicate the relative position thereof, andmeans for illuminating the indicia by pro- 10 iecting light into an edgeof said face plate in the direction of the plane thereof and forilluminating said arrow independently of said face plate by illuminatingthe space in back of the same. 1g 5. An instrument panel comprising, incombination, a transparent face plate, a backing plate for said faceplate arranged in generally noncontacting relation over the greaterportion of its area with respect to the rear surface of the 1;

face plate, said backing plate having an opening therein, an instrumentpositioned in the rear r of said backing plate, a pointer member movableby said instrument and closing said opening, said pointer member beinggenerally opaque but having a translucent arrow portion thereon, indiciaon said face plate arranged for illumination only by light projectedinto an edge of said face plate, said indicia being arranged incooperative relation with respect to said arrow, and a means forprojecting light into an edge of said face plate and for illuminatingthe space in back of said pointer member.

6. An instrument panel comprising, in combination, a transparent faceplate, anopaque s backing plate overlyingthe rear face of said faceplate, a housing enclosing the rear face of said face plate and saidbacking plate, an instrument within said housing supported by saidbacking plate, an opening in said backing plate through 40 which saidinstrument is exposed, a pointer movable by said instrument between theface of said instrument and the face plate, indicia adhered to the rearface of said face plate in cooperative relation with respect to saidpointer, a light a chamber at an edge of said face plate, lamp bulbs insaid chamber positioned to direct light therefrom into an edge of saidface plate and in the direction of the plane thereof, said chamberhaving openings therein permitting the escape of light therefrom towithin said housing, and said instrument having apertures therein intransverse alignment with said pointer whereby light-within said housingmay illuminate said pointer from the side thereof.

7. An instrument panel comprising, in combination, a transparent faceplate, an opaque backing plate for said face plate, said backing platehaving an opening therein, an instrument mounted in the rear of saidopening, a member M secured to the operating shaft of said instrumentand movable therewith closing said opening, said member having a pointerthereon, a narrow line of which extending in the direction of length ofthe pointer is capable of transmitting light there- 6| through and theremainder of said pointer and member being opaque, means for projectinglight into an edge of said face plate in the direction of the planethereof and through said transparent pointer portion, and indicia incooperating relation with respect to said pointer and adapted forillumination simultaneously therewith.

' HERBERT D. ALLEE.

